No November rain : 30 days, 30 albums !
To resist the melancholy and gloom of a November that promises to be as gray and depressing as the world news, might the remedy not lie in our ability to celebrate energy, life, our resilience, and our ability to build the future while learning from the past, all while rejecting the dictates of fast consumption, whose impermanence breeds a sense of disconnection among people, a disconnection that even permeates the sounds themselves? The single track, recorded in one take, like a bullet, mirrors this individualization that rages on all sides, whereas the album once claimed to take the time to get to know, discover, listen to, and understand a universe, an imagination, a way of thinking, and its creator(s). And whatever commentators may say about the return of vinyl and then the CD, it is not merely the safe-haven value of the physical object that is at stake, though this is certainly very real in an era when humanity is rediscovering that it has entrusted the keys to knowledge to a few madmen capable of turning it against us, but rather a return to the fundamentals of a time that is longer, more human, and more real as well: the one that spans two geographical points, the one marked by coffee with friends, the one marked by the refusal to yield to the obligation to produce, the one marked by a relationship with oneself, by reflection, and even by meditation.
So during this time, we wanted to pull one album a day from our collection, to take the time to listen to it again, let it sink in, and share it with you. It’s like an invitation to a journey, a little piece of us, since it’s managed to find its way into, and stay in, our daily lives. And we thought that perhaps you’d enjoy listening to it again yourselves, or even letting it sweep you away for the first time, which we hope you’ll experience without any preconceptions, just like any first time... Thirty albums, like thirty spokes in this gray month of November, thirty spokes on the wheel of time as it turns, leading us irrevocably toward the end-of-year celebrations, which could be the perfect opportunity to share these albums by inviting those around you to listen to them if they’ve won you over. We’ve humorously titled this temporary column “No November Rain”! You can find each album in the magazine’s dedicated category. It’s not a selection in the strict sense, it’s a state of mind, without a doubt, one we wanted to be as open-ended as possible, and one that will undoubtedly span many genres and eras… Enjoy the journey!
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